


Garden Party

by MzHxde



Category: The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Genre: Based on a dream I had, F/M, Private School AU, Self-Indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 15:21:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12135315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MzHxde/pseuds/MzHxde
Summary: For the students of St Pious' School their penultimate year will be one unlike any they've had before





	Garden Party

For the sons and daughters of wealthy families, one school stands above the rest for the education of the next generation. Separated into two parts with separate classes and dormitories for each gender so as to avoid any unsavoury intermingling St Pious' School for Boys and Girls is an institution and has remained so for hundreds of years.

As part of their sterling reputation St Pious' hosts an annual garden party each summer before the students break for the year, the young girls all wear their finest dresses (nothing above the knee is permitted and long sleeves are preferred if not mandatory) and the young men all wear their finest suits (waistcoats are preferred but not mandatory) and the event is chaperoned by teachers and the school's Chaplin one Jack Horne.

Two cousins in particular enjoy the garden party best of all, they have reputations of their own and the garden party is a chance for them to see the fruits of all their endeavours throughout the school year. One thing in particular about these cousins is for all the world knows they are of different genders one male one female and as such they attend the different wings of the school accordingly, but what no one knows is that one of these cousins is in fact lying about their gender to attend a certain wing of the school rather than the other.

* * *

 

It was easy for Cassandra to doctor the papers she needed to present for entering St Pious' a change or two here and there and she was officially down as 'Casper Elwood' instead of Cassandra. She preferred the boys section of the school anyway, there was less focus on morality for a start since the young men were always simply told to behave like gentlemen and nothing more whereas the young women in the girls wing of the school were subjected to daily morality lessons and scrutiny of everything from their hair to their shoes and stockings (since no proper young lady wore tights). Cassandra ran an informal bookmakers for both sides of the school, boys and girls alike would meet her in the library a common space for all attendees of the school and place bets on things they thought were interesting such as what would be served for lunch, which of the teachers were having an affair and so on. She had learnt very quickly that rich young people tended to have much more money than sense and she felt no qualms whatsoever in taking that money from them.

Rosemary on the other hand didn't trifle with money in the same way her cousin did, she had her own plans. Each year she would pick a boy from the other side of the school and string him along for the year and usually at the garden party cut him loose and pick another target. Of course throughout the year she would have as many liaisons with other boys as she could manage without being caught and each was under strict instructions to keep his mouth shut or very nasty things would happen. A benefit of being a 'good student' was that a lot of Rose's behaviour went by unnoticed and if it was all she had to do was bribe one or more of the faculty and everything would resolve itself very quickly indeed, things like perfumes or expensive chocolates were easy to come by and it always stood her in that particular teacher's good graces when she would present them with the gift.

Things were going extremely well for both cousins at the school. They each looked forward to the garden party and when they broke for summer they'd spend time together away from the school just being themselves. Though it would be the garden party of their penultimate year that proved to be the challenging one for both Rosemary and Cassandra though admittedly for different reasons.

* * *

 

 **"Oh I just love the garden party don’t you?"** Amy asked, her long blonde hair fashioned into an elegant French twist behind her head,

 **"My favourite time of year"** Rose agreed, she'd kept her long red hair down and simply pinned off to the side

 **"We all know why that is"** Jennifer scoffed, **"every year you leave a trail of broken hearts behind you and every year you laugh when it happens. Has it ever occurred to you to maybe keep a man longer than a year?"**

Rose hummed as though she were thinking about Jennifer's question but the dark skinned girl knew the redhead was simply toying with her,

 **"Speak of the devil and he shall appear"** Rose muttered under her breath, she'd spotted the young man she'd been trailing along this year coming up the garden to where the three girls were sitting,

 **"Rosemary, I've been looking all over for you"** he beamed at her, the self satisfied smile of a man who figured the world fell at his feet so why not do as he pleased,

 **"I've been right here all morning"** Rose replied, **"haven’t we girls?"**

Amy nodded enthusiastically; she loved to see the kinds of boys Rose would spend the year with. Always devastatingly handsome and always the sons of powerful men,

 **"Well if your ladies will permit me to steal you away for a while I should like to take a walk around the garden with you. If you'd be acceptable to the idea"** the boy smiled showing off a set of pearly white teeth perfect in their rows like headstones in a cemetery, his name was Desmond Macintosh and his father Geoffrey was the CEO of some sort of textile company meaning the Macintosh family would never suffer for their supper.

Rose accepted the outstretched hand Desmond offered her and, wiping the grass from her skirt, took his arm and followed him around the garden.

* * *

 

Cassandra stood against the wall smoking, she enjoyed the party when there were sweets to be eaten and money to be taken otherwise she tended to keep out of the way. The blonde surveyed the garden from her spot and noticed her cousin walking away with the Macintosh boy she'd been spending time with during the year, it was always at the garden party she got rid of whatever idiot she'd been trailing along so it came as no surprise to see them walk off for more secluded pastures.

As they did so a horde of young men approached Cassandra making bets on whether the break up would be a success or if this would be the year one of their own succeeded in keeping the beautiful red head around, she accepted the money and gave odds on whatever the boys asked until one boy caught her attention,

 **"What are the odds he dumps her?"** everyone turned to stare at the sandy haired young man with the wad of cash in his hand. Joshua Faraday was known to Cass as a compulsive gambler, he'd bet on anything and more times than not he lost his money,

 **"You're insane Faraday, there's no way he'd dump her"** Desmond's brother Avery scoffed at the other boy, **"Des is gonna be the one who keeps her around and that smoking redhead is gonna be a Macintosh. Casper gimme odds on Des proposing"**

 **"Odds on Desmond dumping my cousin 10/1 odds on Desmond proposing to my cousin 3/5"** Cass replied, she had a feeling Desmond Macintosh would indeed propose to Rosemary if the way he'd been carrying on the last number of weeks was any indication.

There was a clamour of activity with boys putting money down on Macintosh proposing and then as ever there was silence. Or there would have been if Joshua Faraday and his friends hadn't decided to stick around,

 **"Can I help you?"** she asked peering at them from the corner of her eye as she counted the money in her hands,

**"Yeah we're sticking around until your cousin comes back so I know you aren't stiffing me"**

**"Guero why would Casper 'stiff' you anyway?"** one of the boys, Vasquez, asked. Cass liked Vasquez, he was someone she could spend time with without wanting to punch him in the throat,

 **"Seems like a stupid idea, a bookmaker wouldn't have any business if he was dishonest"** another of Faraday's friends, Billy, spoke. Billy was quiet by nature, he didn't speak much but when he did it was always something important or necessary. Cass wished everyone could be like that.

Faraday grumbled some sort of response but made camp anyway beside where Cass had been enjoying her solitude. Seems like this is one idiot who can't take a hint.

* * *

 

Desmond took Rosemary to a secluded part of the garden on their walk, he was a perfect gentleman all the way and Rose didn't suspect anything of him. He most likely wanted to find a secluded spot so they could kiss without being noticed, fraternising with the other gender was after all frowned upon by the administration,

 **"I got you a gift from Paris, I had father purchase it when he was there last"** Desmond produces a silver bracelet adorned with rubies from a pocket in his jacket and fastens it around Rose's wrist,

 **"Desmond it's beautiful thank you"** the bracelet is lovely and Rose is going to have to do some serious charm work to make Desmond amenable to her keeping it when they break up. Desmond sensing nothing amiss leans in to kiss Rose who hides her disgust easily.

Desmond is rich and handsome yes but the one thing he lacks is the ability to kiss a woman properly. Kissing Desmond is like kissing a dead thing, sure his tongue slips easily into her mouth but it's always so cold as though he's been eating ice cubes just before hand.

When they break away Rose smiles and Desmond reaches back into his jacket pocket, Rose assumes it's for a cigarette since Desmond is one of those men who thinks smoking makes him look distinguished even though he chokes on the smoke every single time,

**"I have something else for you. This I did purchase myself and I apologise that I couldn't have procured it from Europe for you"**

Rose panics now that she realises what Desmond actually has in his pocket, it's not a packet of cigarettes at all.

The box is small and blue, tiffany blue, and when opened the ring is silver with a princess cut diamond sparkling in the middle. Rose is about to speak, to interrupt Desmond's proposal when a member of the kitchen staff enters their secluded area and gasps to see Desmond holding the box and Rose by his side,

**"Oh my goodness I'm so sorry! I had no idea!"**

**"Get out of here!"** Desmond snaps, **"or I'll make sure you never work a day in your life again you filthy – "** before Desmond can finish insulting the woman who simply wanted a few moments alone on one of the busiest days for the kitchen Rose interrupts,

**"Yes"**

Both the woman from the kitchen and Desmond turn their attention to Rosemary who has now stood up,

**"Yes Desmond I will marry you"**

Desmond beams with pride and slips the ring onto Rose's finger before standing himself to kiss her again. The woman from the kitchen uses this as her way to leave the area and head back to the kitchen to tell everyone what she just saw.

Rose however is now in full planning mode. She just accepted a proposal from someone she has absolutely no feelings for and no desire to spend the rest of her life with. How on earth is she going to get out of this one?


End file.
